PLANS to build houses on the Camrose ground have been updated - which could see more than 200 people moving into the site of the former football ground.

As previously reported, Basron, who own the Camrose ground and former home of Basingstoke Town Community Football Club, has put in an outline planning application with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to build a number of houses and flats on the site.

They are also planning on building a care home and another apartment block on the ground currently occupied by the Coral’s bookmakers shop and the clubhouse.

However, in an update to plans submitted to the council earlier this week, Basron has made a minor change to plans to incorporate more green space.

Plans for 12 three-bed houses and four apartment blocks have now been converted into six apartment blocks at two, three or four storeys high.

The 88 dwellings, down from 89, are to allow for more green space in the area, with planning documents saying that the South Ham area currently does not have sufficient levels.

However, Kevin White, director of the community club, wondered whether it was a deliberate delaying tactic.

“They know the time constraints we are under to get football back in the town and what financial pressures not having football back in town would have,” he told the Gazette.

“For them to make a basic error and then to have to resubmit it is ridiculous for professionals. They must have known that the green space was what it was.”

The updated plans will see six apartment blocks - including one large, four-storey block - on the site of the former football pitch.

It will house 42 one-bed flats, 35 two-bed flats and 11 three-bed flats.

This is accompanied by 102 car parking spaces and a green space for residents to use.

The Camrose link road - between the Western Way/Buckland Avenue roundabout and Winchester Road - is included in part.

In the diagrams provided as part of the planning application, the road starts from the edge of the Basron share of the ground. It includes access to the new estate as well as the care home and apartment blocks on the adjacent land.

It joins to Winchester Road in a new traffic light-controlled junction, meaning that if these proposals are accepted, and plans to add traffic lights to Brighton Hill roundabout go ahead, there will be five sets of signals along the 700 metre stretch of dual-carriageway.

Opposite the new houses, on the site of the current Coral’s bookmakers and club house, plans remain unchanged for a new 70-bedroom care home and six flats in an apartment block.

Four of those will be one-bedroom flats, whilst two will be two-bedroom.

This would mean there is a potential for 223 people to move to the former football stadium.

Councillor Gary Watts, Basingstoke councillor for South Ham, said that this was the wrong location for this development.

“Not a lot has changed since the original application in April last year,” he told the Gazette. “It is flatted developments which are inappropriate for the site, the density as well.

“The whole development in Basingstoke and Deane is unsustainable and the infrastructure can’t cope.”

It comes the week after planning permission was granted for improvements to the Winklebury Sports Complex.

As previously reported, the home of Hampshire FA, has been earmarked as a potential stop-gap for the club in order to bring the team back into Basingstoke whilst work is started on a like-for-like stadium to replace the Camrose ground.

Kevin said he was “delighted” at the news.

He added: “It is a massive step forward and also it is a step forward that the people of Winklebury want us on their doorstep.

“We had a really positive meeting with the council and Hampshire FA, they are looking at ways that they can kick-start the development.”

Kevin added that discussions are underway between the club, Hampshire FA and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to start development that would allow them to move into the ground for the start of the 2020-21 season.

However, this is complicated because of planning applications currently on the Camrose ground. A section 106 requirement is on the application, which would require Basron, to finance a new stadium in the town for the club.

Should this not be decided in time for developments to begin on the ground, the Dragons may have to ground-share at the start of the season whilst they continue.

According to Kevin, “various options” are being looked at.

The plans, approved by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on Friday, include the building of a new clubhouse, a new storage container and turnstiles.

The existing main stand will have another 35 seats, taking the capacity up to 100, whilst a new covered terrace (480 spectators) and an additional covered stand (150 spectators) will be built.

It comes with a number of conditions, such as building and delivery hours, and a number of artificial nest boxes for insects and birds must be installed.

The site is in Winklebury Park, just off Winklebury Way, and is bordered by the Ringway to the east and the railway line to the south, limiting future development on the site.